Pappas Calls For Stricter House Arrest

April 01, 1991|By Charles Mount.

A County Board member wants to tighten the tether on inmates released on the county`s electronic monitoring program.

As many as 600 of 970 inmates in the Cook County electronic monitoring program are allowed to leave their homes at any one time to go to work, doctor`s appointments, public aid offices, or court appearances and probation programs, Commissioner Maria Pappas charged.

``House arrest is supposed to mean house arrest-period. You are supposed to be in that house,`` said Pappas, who is also exploring the legality of charging prisoners a fee to enroll in the program.

The program allows prisoners to stay at home rather than in overcrowded County Jail, and is designed to keep them within 150 feet of their homes.

Pappas, chairman of the County Board`s Law Enforcement Committee, has proposed that the county buy its own electronic monitoring equipment for about $1.7 million instead of contracting with a vendor to furnish the equipment and help administer the program at a cost of about $4.3 million a year.

Pappas said an average of 100 prisoners call the County Jail daily for permission to leave for appointments, while another 250 are allowed to go to work, 100 to court and 150 to probation programs.

Sheriff Michael Sheahan, who is campaigning for a tighter ``active``

system to replace a ``passive`` system, said he is willing to work with Pappas` committee to resolve the problems. Sheahan said more than 900 of 10,000 prisoners who have been in the program during the last year have committed other crimes.

Under the active system that could be purchased for $1.7 million, an alarm would go off in a central control room if a prisoner ventures more than about 150 feet from his home. A passive system relies on four to six daily phone calls to a prisoner`s home that require the prisoner to plug a device into a phone hookup to verify his presence.